#Ephemera Category

Deborah Sugg Ryan: the age of affordable suburbia

Deborah Sugg Ryan has drawn extensively on MoDA’s holdings for her new book Ideal Homes 1918-39: Domestic design and suburban modernism, which will be published by Manchester University Press in March 2018. In this extract from the book she discusses the home of Ronald and Miriam Kingham, which is documented in MoDA’s collection. Ronald and […]

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Deborah Sugg Ryan: TV historian publishes new book

You may have seen Professor Deborah Sugg Ryan recently on the BBC2 programme A House Through Time. Deborah appears on the programme and also acted as consultant to the series.  She is Professor of Design History and Associate Dean (Research) in the Faculty of Creative and Cultural Industries at University of Portsmouth. In addition to her TV work, […]

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Jane Audas: Charles Hasler Sends his Greetings

Charles Hasler Sends His Greetings is a taster of the many wonderful things contained in MoDA’s Charles Hasler collection.  The book’s author Jane Audas delves into the collection to highlight fifty rare and unusual items from Victoriana to mid-century modern. Hasler (1908-1989) was a typographer and graphic designer. His collection reflects his magpie tendencies and wide-ranging […]

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Ellen Martin: The Value of the Everyday

The following piece is by Ellen Martin, who recently completed an MA in Design and Material Culture at Brighton University. Last year I completed my MA in History of Design and Material Culture at the University of Brighton – and the wonderful collections at the Museum of Domestic Design and Architecture (MoDA) were crucial to […]

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Aviva Leeman: Bringing You Better Living

Bringing You Better Living was a site-specific installation at Ten Grand Arcade by Aviva Leeman. The work is inspired by the Charles Hasler collection at MoDA. The commission is a collaborative project which was informed by the site and character of the gallery itself. The Hasler Gallery is located in a retail unit in a […]

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Object Focus: Graphic design meets furniture design

Today we’re taking a closer look at the graphic design of this 1962 furniture catalogue by Finmar. Finmar was a wholesaler and major importer of Scandinavian furniture to the UK.  It was founded in 1934 by design reformer Philip Morton Shand. The graphic design of the catalogue mirrors the clean lines, organic forms and a […]

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Object Focus: Publicity, Packaging and Postcards

In early 2013 we began a documentation and conservation project focusing on a part of MoDA’s collection made up of  little bits of detail.  The Charles Hasler Collection contains (amongst other things) scraps of wine labels, books with missing pages, old restaurant menus and envelopes. This reference material from the Charles Hasler collection is both […]

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